What Will Really Help Us Fight the Opioid Crisis?

The president has officially declared the opioid crisis in the United States to be a public health emergency. Though this sounds like a beneficial step toward ensuring help for those suffering from this epidemic, the truth is this actually will do very little in terms of allowing us to deal with the scope of the opioid crisis.

A public health emergency, according to a study by Addictions.com, can only last for 90 days. It also doesn’t have the power to provide the type of money necessary for dealing with the opioid crisis, which has a 10-year cost of over $180 billion. In addition, the Trump administration promises to offer telemedicine to people in isolated areas and to provide grants for those who cannot find work because of their addictions. However, neither of these promises will be enough to provide what is necessary to the vast amount of Americans whose lives have been affected by opioid abuse and addiction.

Still, you may be wondering what could truly allow us to fight the opioid crisis in an effective way, especially since it is such as serious issue. If the president were to declare a state of emergency rather than just a public health emergency, we could actually do more to make a dent in this problem. A much larger amount of money could be allocated to the issue, as well as more government resources. In addition, there would be a considerable amount of awareness for the problem brought on by this declaration, which the public health emergency declaration has failed to create.